Small-amplitude Compressible Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence Modulated by Collisionless Damping in Earth's Magnetosheath: Observation Matches Theory

TL;DR

This paper provides the first observational evidence that collisionless damping significantly influences small-scale compressible MHD turbulence in Earth's magnetosheath, revealing how damping modulates turbulence anisotropy and energy distribution.

Contribution

It introduces an improved decomposition algorithm and demonstrates observational evidence of collisionless damping effects on compressible MHD turbulence modes in Earth's magnetosheath.

Findings

Collisionless damping enhances anisotropy of compressible MHD modes.

Fast modes are more strongly modulated by collisionless damping than slow modes.

Fast mode energy decreases with increasing perpendicular wavenumber and propagation angle.

Abstract

Plasma turbulence is a ubiquitous dynamical process that transfers energy across many spatial and temporal scales and affects energetic particle transport. Recent advances in the understanding of compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence demonstrate the important role of damping in shaping energy distributions on small scales, yet its observational evidence is still lacking. This study provides the first observational evidence of substantial collisionless damping (CD) modulation on small-amplitude compressible MHD turbulence cascade in Earth's magnetosheath using four Cluster spacecraft. Based on an improved compressible MHD decomposition algorithm, turbulence is decomposed into three eigenmodes: incompressible Alfv\'en modes, and compressible slow and fast (magnetosonic) modes. Our observations demonstrate that CD enhances the anisotropy of compressible MHD modes because CD has a strong dependence on wave propagation angle. The wavenumber distributions of slow modes are mainly stretched perpendicular to the background magnetic field ($\mathbf{B_0}$) and weakly modulated by CD. In contrast, fast modes are subjected to a more significant CD modulation. Fast modes exhibit a weak, scale-independent anisotropy above the CD truncation scale. Below the CD truncation scale, the anisotropy of fast modes enhances as wavenumbers increase. As a result, fast mode fractions in the total energy of compressible modes decrease with the increase of perpendicular wavenumber (to $\mathbf{B_0}$) or wave propagation angle. Our findings reveal how the turbulence cascade is shaped by CD and its consequences to anisotropies in the space environment.